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Sorry for asking this but does anyone know how long it takes to get an electric coolbox cold via the car cigarette lighter?  Also, any recommendations for a good cheapo one?  I've seen some in Woolies for £29, Robert Dyas £35 and Argos £39.  Any advice greatly received.  We would like one that stays cold for as long as possible after it's taken out of car too!  Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom.

cool boxes only keep things cool that are already cool so you cannot put something that is warm in there and expect it to cool it for that you need a small fridge.

I think price wise you have found the cheapest ones at woolies and argos.

I think to keep things cool its the same advice as for non electric cool boxes. Bottles of water are ideal cool packs as you can also use the water to drink once it has started to thaw, freeze milk, juice etc if you do not need it for a couple of days, etc...

Line the cool box with one of the supermarket freezer bags (long life bags) as this helps the cool box insulation etc.... and put all your food / drinks in the bag

Happy camping

Prior to putting the food in that we want to take with us, I always fill the box with stuff out of the freezer first.  Leave it in for about 15 mins that swop it for what we're taking at the last minute.  That way the box is already cold before we start.  I also always add a couple of the freezer blocks or a frozen bottle of water to help keep it cold.

It depends on the outside weather, but on a hot day mine seems to keep cool overnight and the next day.  But it's not as cold as a fridge.  Most 12v coolboxes only cool to a maximum of 20 degrees below ambient.  So if it's 30 degrees the box will never be able to go as cold as a fridge anyway.  I bought mine at Morrisons for about £25.  So long as they cool to at least 20 below ambient, I would buy the cheapest.

I want to save some pennies and get a 3 way fridge - but it'll probably never happen.

Cheers. Julie.

We have just bought the Woolies one and are very pleased with it. They also sell an adaptor to use it with EHU. It was chilling 2 bottles of beer within a couple of hours. It is also fairly quiet but we switched it off overnight anyway and the food and milk and juice. was still chilled the following morning.

Carol

Ooooh, thanks for that info.  The one in Robert Dyas said that it had 2 fans for rapid cooling.  Is this the same with the Woolies one?  The Dyas one was Gio Style or something like that.

I feel a purchase coming on...........

Quote: Originally posted by magicaly on 06/6/2006

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We have just bought the Woolies one and are very pleased with it. They also sell an adaptor to use it with EHU. It was chilling 2 bottles of beer within a couple of hours. It is also fairly quiet but we switched it off overnight anyway and the food and milk and juice. was still chilled the following morning.

Carol

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I didnt buy the Woolies adaptor as I already have one with my big Igloo cooler and used that with the Woolies cooler which is made by Ezetel. I would have thought that 3 amps was sufficient for a cooler though. The ciggie lighter is on a cord which pulls out from the lid where it is stored when packed away. The cord is about 2m long. I think you will find that the Asda ciggie plug is also on a similar cord that can be pulled out from the lid.

Carol

The adapter is a box with a ciggie lighter socket at one end and a standard 240v domestic plug on the other end. This can then be plugged into your camping EHU.

Carol

Is it a grey Halfords one with the elements at the bottom?   If so I used to have one of these (he ex got it!) and it was very good.  Keep salad and stuff like that away from the "cold bit" as it makes salad manky!  Because the elements are at the bottom don't use ice in the bag as it leaks the water will leak into the electrical works.

It's a good bargain for a freebie!

Lol!!!   I don't think a picture is too sad - quite sad though I suppose.

It sounds like the same model, can't remember where the controls were but deff one central catch. 

Enjoy using it!